USC is in the middle of a three-year, 30-scholarship reduction. Head coach Lane Kiffin can’t afford to miss on any recruits.

Max Browne says bring it on.

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Browne isn’t even a senior yet at Skyline High School in Sammamish, Wash., but the 6-foot-5 quarterback loves the idea of helping restore USC to its dominating self. Browne, who premiers today as Sporting News’ No. 1 overall recruit in the 2013 rankings, might just be the guy who brings the Trojans a national title, along with the rest of his cherry-picked signing class.

“There’s nothing you can do about the sanctions,” Browne told Sporting News. “When I committed to USC, I thought they had a good plan to get over the scholarship reductions. We won’t have to deal with the bowl ban (by 2013), and we just try to look at it like the 15 (signees) we get is better than the 25 others teams get. I’m looking at being ready to go in right away and compete. If not, I have no problem waiting my turn.”

The scholarship losses certainly will affect depth, so often a big reason the Trojans dominated. USC was known for a second-team unit that could beat most first teams. That made the transition year to year smooth—and the scrimmages legendary.

Lately, competition in the Pac-12 has leveled out. Programs have caught up with the Trojans (they’ve lost to Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford and Washington in the past three seasons). Browne wants to see those days in the rearview mirror. The USC commitment-turned recruiter is targeting players who will play key parts. In fact, on Tuesday he received word that talented Illinois running back Ty Isaac (No. 6 overall) joined the class, giving the Trojans six commitments. They now have three of the top six players in the Sporting News Top 125, with Maryland native Kenny Bigelow (No. 4), a defensive lineman, being the other.

“Right when I committed (in early April), I talked to a bunch of guys about coming to USC—but now it’s an evaluation period so I’m trying not to bug people too much—I might just try to send a quick text message to let them know I’m just checking with them,” Browne said of other big-time recruits. “It’s quality over quantity for us. We’re trying to just get top guys. We can’t miss on guys. We have to have great football players and great people.”

Browne said it’s like when he was a kid playing college football video games when a gamer recruits players to his program. Now, he’s doing it in real life with much more at stake. Already his future classmates are warming up to him. Eldridge Massington, one of the top wide receivers out of Texas, shunned closer powerhouses to join Browne at USC.

“I’m already establishing a relationship with Max Browne. I’ve been talking to him a lot,” Massington told Sporting News. “He’s good, and he actually reminds me a little bit of Peyton Manning. He’s tall, he’s big and he seems like a smart dude.”

Browne grew up in Pac-12 territory, near Seattle, fully aware of USC’s history. He grew up watching the Trojans when Pete Carroll was on the sidelines, and is too young to remember when nearby Washington was winning conference titles in the old Pac-10 in the early 1990s. Instead, he remembers how the Trojans put a hurting on everybody on the West Coast for years.

As a kid he visited one of his older brothers in Los Angeles, and he was in awe of USC’s program. Now he may be the key to getting it back to prominence. With more than 8,200 yards passing the past two seasons, with 95 TDs and only 20 interceptions, he’s proven he can toss it around.

“He’s so well-rounded and has such a great perspective about things and life in general,” Skyline coach Mat Taylor told Sporting News. “He’ll be that ambassador that they want for the program. He’s equally as good off the field as he is on the field, and I would challenge anybody to find a better leader. That’s what eventually could help bring USC back after these sanctions.”